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Friday, 22 August 2014

Vocabulary Exercises

This helps us understand some kind of relationship
between a pair of words.

Let’s look at a few examples:

1. hypothesis : proof

a. statement:
expression

b.
promise : fulfilment

c.
urging : need

d.
execution: intention

‘hypothesis’ is at the concept level and ‘proof’ is
at the concrete level. So ‘b’ is the choice

2. vigilant :
danger

a.
thrifty : indigence*

b.
compulsive: thoroughness

c. arbitrary : justice

d.
persevering: innocence

If you are ‘vigilant’ you can avoid danger. (a) if
you are thrifty (=economical) you can avoid indigence(=being poor)

3. incline :
precipice

a. alteration : mutation

b.
selfishness : greed

c.
wilderness : jungle

d.
partisan : zealot

‘vertical’ is the common factor in the head pair.
Only (a) has a common factor: change

4. perspicacious* : insight

a.
authority : despotism

b.
audacious: hearing

c.
torpid : activity

d. zealous : enthusiastic

(a) all who have authority are not despots. (b)
there’s no connection (c) contains antonyms

(d) contains synonyms and is the choice as the head
pair is synonymous.

5. chevron* :
badge

a.
caisson* : cart

b. calcium : bone

c.
wax : candle

d.
oration : euology

chevron=badge with a V shape The answer is (a) cassion=ammunition wagon

6. hack : carve

a. grind
: polish

b.
snip : mince

c.
hew : fell

d. gouge*:
engrave

‘c’ is the answer

Note: GRE is a test aspirants wishing to seek
admission to an MS programme in the US need

to
get through.

Exercise 1

Read carefully each lead pair and the choices that
follow them. Choose a pair that is an analogy to each lead pair.

Note: It’s good to arrive at the right choice by
elimination process because you may not know every expression in the choices.

1.
furniture: table

a. plant: tree b. vehicle: ship

c. book : knowledge d. bravery : medal

2.
wood : mahogany

a. house : villa b. sonnet : poem

c. bottle : container d. sleep : bed

3.
writer : novelist

a. gold : bangle b. seed : plant

c. sword : weapon d. bird : woodpecker

4.
Edison : electric bulb

a. pencillin : Alexander Fleming

b. Rontgen : X-ray

c. Duryodhana : Mahabharatha

d. Mahatma Gandhi : India

5.
miniature : enlargement

a. commence : begin

b. zenith : apex

c. alpha : omega

d. praise : flatter

6.
ingenious : skillful

a. ferocious : kind

b. loquacious : dumb

c. ingenuous : frank

d. extravagant: miserly

7.
witness : courtroom

a. inspector : jail

b. teacher : education

c. doctor : operation

d. guard : train

8.
fruit : orange

a. house
: kitchen

b. college : playground

c. table : furniture

d. crime : murder

9.
nose : smell

a. tongue : taste

b. stomach : digest

c. bed : sleep

d. leg : crawl

10.
train : coal

a. car : wheels

b. teacher: chalk

c. man : brain

d. TV : news

11. bread :
flour

a.
TV : gadget

b.
book: paper

c.
wall : cement

d.
river : rain

12. light :
darkness

a.
medicine : cure

b.
knowledge: ignorance

c.
food : energy

d.
friend : enemy

13. plant :
leaf

a.
calendar: date

b.
camera : picture

c.
paper : news

d.
body : arm

14. sock :
foot

a.
glove : arm

b.
sweater: cold

c.
cloth : body

d.
lip : mouth

15. knife : fork

a.
cup : saucer

b.
bread : butter

c.
fire : warmth

d. kitchen: cooking

16. fire :
warmth

a.
rain : cloud

b.
cold : numbness

c.
earth : river

d.
chair : comfort

17. prune :
hedge

a.
trim : hair

b.
cut : cake

c.
reap : crop

d.
shave: moustache

18. euology : praise

a.
comedy : laugh

b.
epic : contempt

c.
tirade : awe

d.
elegy : lament

19. satire
: ridicules

a.
hyperbole : exaggerate

b.
comedy : laugh

c.
camera : click

d.
hoe : dig

20. start
: finish

a. begin : stop

b.
born : die

c.
produce : destroy

d.
bath : dress

21. open :
close

a.
smile : weep

b.
sow : harvest

c.
grow : mature

d.
talk : quiet

22. food :
hunger

a. police
: criminal

b.
teacher : knowledge

c.
water : thirst

d. lie
down: tiredness

23. bed :
rest

a.
book : print

b.
lamp : read

c.
house : enjoy

d.
dress : wear

24. admire
: idolize

a. weak : strength

b.
dislike : hate

c.
mumble : yell

d.
pray : worship

25. adamant
: dogmatic

a.
weak : firm

b.
love : hate

c.
happy : ecstatic

d. sour : bitter

26. attachment : love

a. frugal : parsimony

b.
ordinary : magnificence

c.
trite : cliché

d.
shout : thunder

27. warm : heat

a.
jump : fly

b.
purloin*: pilfer

c.
firm : dogmatic

d.
wind : tornado

28. sun : heat

a.
jump : catch

b.
generosity : cautious

c.
glass : break

d.
slap : pain

29. drug :
cure

a.
murder : jail

b.
eat : sleep

c.
generosity : gratitude

d.
blabber : blunder

30. cloud :
rain

a.
mischief : jail term

b.
chair : sit

c.
water : grow

d.
prevaricate: quibble

31. throw :
break

a.
drowsiness : eat

b.
muffle : sound

c.
smatter* : superficial

d.
ego : vanity

32. copyright : author

a.
licence : driver

b.
passport : citizen

c.
patent : inventor

d. gavel : chairperson

33. code :
meaning

a.
safe : valuables

b. confidence: secret

c.
camouflage: location

d.
briefcase : documents

34. diary :
person

a.
log : ship

b.
journal : science

c.
calendar : year

d.
passbook : deposit

Exercise 2 analogy continued

35. scene : play
42.
superimpose : above

a.
medley* : song a. permeate : beside

b.
sketch : painting b. focus : around

c. index : book c. insert : between

d.
pirouette* : ballet
d. fuse : behind

36. ratiocination* : thinking 43. courage : rashness

a.
supposition : theorising
a. generosity : prodigality

b.
emulation : idolizing b. temperance : modesty

c.
jubilation : pleasing c. honour : humility

d.
articulation : talking d. compassion : contempt

37.
adulteration : purity
44. cow : herd

a.
modify : essence a. grass : green

b.
exonerate : crime
b. film star : galaxy

c. ascertain : validity c. bald : hair

d. filch : earn d. horse : breed

38. itinerary : trip 45. bird
:ornithology

a.
resume : job a. zoology : animals

b.
portfolio : document
b. stars : galaxy

c.
legend : map c.
archaeology : antiquity

d.
syllabus : course d. plant : botany

39. awl* :
pierce 46. tree :
trunk

a.
lathe : penetrate a. pen : ink

b.
drill : flatten b.
car : chassis

c.
pestle : mash c. cabin
: log

d.
sickle : cut d. arm : body

40. surgeon : dexterity 47. people :
house

a.
engineer : clarity a. criminal :
jail

b.
sailor : navigation b. bird : nest

c.
industrialist: capital c. monkey : tree

d.
acrobat : agility d. lion : zoo

41. credulous : dupe 48.
cycle : pedal

a.
insensitive : boor a. drive :
accelerator

b.
argumentative : lawyer
b. eat : plate

c. naive : cheat c. sleep : bed

d.
extravagant : miser d. write : paper

49.
night : day 50.
running : breathlessness

a. teacher : learner a.
news : shock

b. loss : gain b.
medicine: cure

c. boy : girl c.
joke : laughter

d. head : tail d.
tension : headache

51.
eye : sight 52.
head : think

a. tongue : taste a.
tongue : lash

b. lips : smile b.
broom : sweep

c. hand : eat c.
chess : check

d. feet : walk d.
teeth : brush

53.
chalk : blackboard 54. pedestrian
: pavement

a. bread : jam a.
passengers : train

b. paste :
brush
b. vehicle : lane

c. ball : bat c.
teacher : classroom

d. mattress : cot d.
writer : book

55.
profit : loss 56. dime : dollar

a. big : small a.
lapse : blunder

b. simple : complex b.
love : hate

c. easy : difficult c.
generosity : caution

­­ d. close : open d.
camera : picture

(find
inappropriately placed pair)

57.
dawdle : race 58. decade : century

a. commence : begin a.
shout : thunder

b. fear : terror b. economy:
largesse

c. blabber : blunder c. pint : gallon

d. squirm : wriggle d. firm : dogmatic

59.
saunter : stride 60.
charge : fleece

a. admire : idolize a. news : exaggerate

b. suicide : murder b.
drizzling : raining

c. anger : roar c.
relax : enjoy

d. doubt : suspect d.
breeze : gale

61.
furniture : table 62.
wood : mahogany

a.
plant : tree
a. house : villa

b. vehicle : ship b.
sonnet : poem

c. book : knowledge c.
bottle : container

d. bravery : medal d.
sleep : bed

63.
writer : novelist

a. gold : bangle

b. seed : plant

c. bird : woodpecker

d. sword : weapon

2.
Affixes

Exercise 3

In the following
sentences or paragraphs, you’ll find one blank or more followed by a word in
brackets. Fill in each blank with the word formed by adding an appropriate
prefix, suffix or both to the word given in brackets:

1. Don’t depend on
him; he’s very -------------------------- . [rely]

2. He’s been
----------------- [special] interested in the welfare of Tamil medium students.

3. Did you read
the ------------------------[editor] in yesterday’s Hindu?

4. There’s been a
-------------------------[consider] ----------------------[reduce] in the

From each of the
following passages, write down the words formed with affixes:

1.

The key to effective communication

This is the essential practical guide for
anyone who wants to improve their written and spoken language skills. It
provides advice, tips, and ideas to help you communicate better in a wide
range of everyday situations. Real-life examples, an invaluable glossary, and
You Try boxes provide clear and accessible guidance.[ “ blurb” of
Oxford guide to writing and speaking]

…………………….. ………………………………. ……………………

--------------------------- ---------------------------------

2.

Using good
English

Use the extensive coverage of the technicalities of
the English language to improve your understanding of grammar, vocabulary,
spelling, punctuation, and speech.

The first paragraph is about using the overdraft facility and the
second concerns overdraft protection, an insurance protecting the user
against being unable to repay the overdraft in the event of illness or
unemployment

These principles
underpinning effective performance appraisal have wider relevance than simply
improvements in individual performance. They are also concerned with the
development of a participative organizational culture.

Ayurveda is the
most ancient form of medicine in the world, and the forerunner of all other
great systems of medicine. It literally means ‘knowledge of life’; its
guiding principles are believed to have been handed down from the Hindu gods
to the great seers. The written texts of Ayurveda date back 3,500 years and
the incredibly complex and advanced concepts that embody them still form the basis
of much Indian medicine today.

Brinkerhoff looked up. It was Midge Milken, Fontaine’s
internal security analyst. She was sixty, slightly heavy, and much to the
puzzlement of Brinkerhoff, quite appealing. An ex-wife three times over,
Midge prowled the six-room directorial suite with a saucy authority. She was sharp,
intuitive, worked ungodly hours, and was rumoured to know more about the
NSA’s inner workings than God himself.
“D.Brown’s Digital Fortress”

It was a Saturday night, and Mahogany Row
was all but deserted, its executives long gone----off enjoying whatever
pastimes influential men enjoyed in their leisure. Although Brinkerhoff had
always dreamed of a ‘real’ post with the agency, he had somehow ended up as a
‘personal aide’---the official cul de sac of the political rat race. The fact
that he worked side by side with the single most powerful man in American
intelligence was little consolation.
“Digital Fortress”

7.----------------------
------------------------

8.

[i] Also to learn about
several unknown factors of space travel such as physiological effects of
prolonged weightlessness and of possible radiation in space.

[ii] As system engineers they defined the technical requirements of
the parts that constitute a system…..

[iii] A text is organized description or narration or information. It
is usually split or divided into paragraphs.

Staring
intently at the barren pocket of land, Langdon sensed that it was plenty
large enough. Excitement surged through him. This was obviously where the
camerlengo planned to take the antimatter! The chopper was pointing directly
toward it! [ “D. Brown’s Angels and
Demons”]

World-renowned
Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility
to analyse a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist.
What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic
Church by a centuries-old underground organisation---the illuminati.
Desperate to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, Langdon joins forces
in Rome with the beautiful and mysterious scientist Vittoria Vetra. Together
they embark on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs,
deserted cathedrals, and the most secretive vault on earth…The long-forgotten
illuminati lair. “Angels and
Demons”---blurb

When the NSA’s invincible code-breaking
machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, the agency calls its
head cryptographer, Susan Fletcher, a brilliant and beautiful mathematician.
What she uncovers sends shock waves through the corridors of power. The NSA
is being held hostage…not by guns or bombs, but by a code so ingeniously
complex that if released it would cripple U.S. intelligence. Caught in an
accelerating tempest of secrecy and lies, Susan Fletcher battles to save the
agency she believes in. Betrayed on all sides, she finds herself fighting not
only for her country……

A
lot of guidance in this book concerns written expression. This is because
people seek advice and information about written English far more often than
they do about spoken English. We all use speech apparently fairly naturally
and usually without any obvious problems. Also, most of the time, spoken
words disappear as soon as they have been uttered, so it is difficult for
them to come back to haunt us.

In the following
paragraphs, you’ll find one blank or more followed by a word in brackets. Fill
in each blank with the word formed by adding an appropriate prefix, suffix or
both to the word given in brackets:

1. --------------------------[fortunate], the
--------------------[grow] realisation of this fact

is opening the door to
---------------------------------[numerable]false prophets who are

advertising their own pet theories in
-----------------------[social] as ---------------------

[science]. Science is
---------------------[continue] telling us through their mouths

that we are doomed unless we give up
--------------------------[smoke], adopt---or

Words function in
sentences as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs. From each numbered group given
below, identify and write down in the space provided below the odd
word that does not belong to the group:

Three of the four
words are formed by adding the suffix ‘or’ to a string of letters already existing as words :

profess
[verb]---professor[noun], protect[v] ---protector[n], predate[v]---predator[n].
There is no word as ‘proct’ to which the suffix ‘or’ is added. ‘Proctor’[n] is
a modified version of a word in Middle
English.

1.
Let’s say you go into a bookshop, on impulse rather than by intention. What do
you do?

You
move round, look at the titles and the authors, flip or glance through a few
pages, look at the back covers where the publishers normally provide some
interesting info about the books and the authors.

We
can replace the underlined expressions and the one in bold with two single
words. Do you know them? They are __________________ and
______________.

2.
Fill the blanks with ‘impulse’ or ‘intention’ :

He
doesn’t think. He acts on ________________.

My
_________________ is to save money, not to spend it.

3.
You know ‘neck’ is a part of human body.

The back part of the neck is called
_______.

.
The front part is the ________.

The
human body is divided into two parts: 1. head
2. trunk [=the rest of the body].

Sometimes,
the police find a corpse or dead body without the head. The word for such a
body is headless body.

You
know who a ‘villain’ is. There’s almost no film without a villain. A
villain, as you know, does indulge in doing evil things. But you’ll be
surprised to learn that this word once referred to ‘an honest agricultural
labourer’!

6.

Today
we get money as ‘salary’ for the work we do for someone. In olden days,
only salt ration was given to soldiers. This ration was known as ‘salarium’,
which later became ‘salary’.

7.

You
know what a ‘sandwich’ is, don’t you? It’s two toasted thin slices of bread
with butter and jam, meat, or tomato and cucumber between the bread slices.
People eat sandwiches for breakfast.

8.

Do
you know how this food got its name? John Montagne belonged to a place called
Sandwich in England. He was a round-the-clock gambler. As he didn’t want to
stop gambling, he thought of having food like the present day sandwiches. The
name of his town became the name of the food.

9

Do you know the words for the sounds
animals make?

The cow moos. The chicken cackles. The donkey brays. The cat mews or miaows.

The horse neighs. The goat bleats. The sheep baas or bleats.

The dog barks. The pigeon coos. The wolf bays.

[All the underlined words are verbs
referring to the sounds the animals produce.]

About Me

I hail from Thamizh Nadu, a Southern state of India. I speak Thamizh, Thelugu, English and Hindi.

I served for 43 years as a teacher of English in schools and colleges in India, Ethiopia and Nigeria. I've published several articles on ELT and of general interest in the USA, Ethiopia and India. I've presented several papers in national and international conferences. I've written several course books for the English syllabuses of Bachelor of Engineering of Madras University, Anna University and JNTU, Hyderabad, for public consumption as well.